Martial Arts in Elgin

Last week was birthday week in our house. And, as much as I love planning parties, I don’t mind a break now and then. So, I was thrilled that one of my daughters requested to have her party hosted at a martial arts facility to which she had earned a free party.

Before I share about our wonderful experience let me give you a peak into the behind the scenes activity. I called and set up a time for the party  and a couple days later received a phone call from the gentleman that would lead the class during the party. He asked, “Do you homeschool?” Of course, I told him we did. To which he responded that he had been homeschooled through high school. That got me excited right off the bat. But, that was only the beginning.

Kim’s Black Belt Academy hosted a well organized party. They took care of the RSVPs, followed up with people we had not heard back from and kept me in the loop every step of the way.

They made the cupcakes and lemonade, and filled the pinata. They kept the kids happy and moving for an hour and a half and even gave me the list of gifts and givers.

So, from the party stand point this was a great place to go. All the girls had a great time and they learned some new skills. Most of them had little or no martial arts experience, so this was a first for them. They all did a great job giving it a good effort and the instructors really helped them do their best and feel comfortable.

Oh, and they even video taped the party and sent out the video via email. How great is that?

I wanted to share about this not just so you would know about a great party place, but because they would like to start a martial arts class geared toward homeschoolers. After the quality experience we had with everyone there I was happy to share about this opportunity.

If you are wondering if this could be for you they even have a free trial option. You can set up a time to have a private lesson and get comfortable before you actually join a class.

They make an intentional effort to teach more than physical fitness. Kyuki-do focuses on character development as well. On their website they say this:

At our academy, we use the martial arts as a vehicle to develop the following traits in a child:
– Self-Esteem
– Self Discipline
– Focus and Concentration
– Confidence
– Physical Fitness
– Leadership
– Courtesy and Respect
– Positive Attitude
– Enthusiasm
– Teamwork
– Goal Setting
– Self-Control
– Better Listening

Many of these came up in just the short time that we enjoyed our party there. A series of classes would just deepen the growth in these areas. If you are looking for something fresh to add to your physical education for the upcoming school year I would encourage you to check out Kim’s Black Belt Academy. They have two locations, one in downtown Elgin and the other on the west side of the city, both with the same focus of building confident kids.

TOS Crew Review — Go Trybe

I have my favorites for math, English, history, and science. But, when it comes to PE, every year is different. We like to try different things, but most importantly we like to be active and continue to improve our health each day. I want my kids to be healthy and have fun in the process. GoTrybe has a similar goal and we enjoyed using their tools this past month.

Product: Go Trybe online membership

Details: An online fitness membership for kids to use on their own or with their class to encourage them to get active and take a more hands-on interest in their own physical fitness.

Price: $19.95 for an annual membership (regularly $39.95)

What we loved . . .

  • Quick to figure out. Login is easy, they even have a free trial to check it out before you buy. As soon as you are in you can click around, create your avatar, plan a workout, or listen to the daily messages.
  • Not just exercise. While GoTrybe’s main focus is exercise, they offer incentives to improve your health in many other areas as well. Each day the member can earn points for viewing quick videos or reading quick tidbits about nutrition, motivation, and wellness. These generally offer tips and advice on how to stick with your exercise plans, how to pack the most nutrition in your meals, and how to set and stick with goals to improve your health. They use the points to dress their avatar and buy various items.
  • Lots of variety and choose your own. I really enjoyed the way they made the workouts available. They are not just premade videos that you pick from and follow along with only a few to choose from. You create your own workout by pulling from a pool of exercise videos most about 3-5 minutes in length. Each workout must have a warm up, three cardio sets, a strength one, and then a flexibility video. There are lots to choose from and my kids made many videos that we used on different days. No two were alike.
  • Kids exercise along, too. Each video is led by an adult, but kids play an important part in the group as well. You can even be in a video if you get in touch with them and are willing to drive to their studios in Tennessee. 😉
  • Geared to a variety of ages. You choose your age group when signing in and the videos that you have will vary based on your age at sign in. They have targeted them, and we enjoyed the older group although it was definitely challenging for my little ones that were following along with us. They all still got a great bit of exercise.

Some considerations . . .

  • Modesty. My only real beef with GoTrybe is their choice of clothing and body stance for the older girl avatar, in particular. This is often a problem for me when I consider products that focus on physical fitness. Presumably they want to give you a visual that is physically fit, but it often ends up somewhere between questionable and inappropriate in the modesty department. I would have preferred a more neutral stance and more feminine clothing, but obviously they can’t please everyone, so in this area I fell into the part of everyone that they didn’t please.
  • Workouts seemed to lack a cool down. We really enjoyed the workouts that we put together and each of my kids took a turn putting one on for us. However, we found that they needed a little more transition from the heart pumping cardio to the muscle building strength clips. We would just pause and walk around the room a few times while our heart rate relaxed a bit.
  • Nutrition information might not mesh with your slant. Each day the kids have an opportunity to hear a quick little nutrition tip and take a one question quiz on their comprehension. This was an easy way to earn points and my kids learned something in the process. However, there are a variety of approaches to healthy eating in our society today (whole foods, vegan, Nourishing Traditions, etc.) and again they cannot please everybody. For the most part they did a good job of remaining general (eat lots of fresh, whole foods), but if this is an area that you feel strongly about in your home you might want to use these as discussion starters rather than lessons for your kids to swallow.
  • Offers forum and chat features. Social media will always open the door to inappropriate conversation. Just be careful who your kids friend, or have them avoid that part of the program all together. They will not miss out on anything if they don’t get all the shoutouts like, “Make an avatar” ” r u a boy or girl?” etc. Really meaningful stuff right there. 😉

GoTrybe set out to create a motivational site for kids to get fit, to realize the importance of diet and exercise in our society that continues to struggle with obesity and weight related medical issues. I think they did a good job of making this kid-friendly and interactive. This web based program gets you out of your chair and improving your health from the first day you log in. Definitely worth the less than $20 to enable your kids to plan your PE for you.

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free of charge through Go Trybe as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.



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